BIM today issued letters of offer to 57 Irish fishing vessels under the fishing vessel Voluntary Permanent Cessation Scheme, funded under the Brexit Adjustment Reserve, with total funding of up to €75 million.
As Afloat reported earlier, the scheme is a crucial recommendation of the Seafood Taskforce, established by the Minister for the Marine Charlie McConalogue TD, to mitigate the impacts of the fish quota share reductions arising from the EU/UK Trade Cooperation Agreements. It aims to help restore the balance between fleet capacity and available fishing quotas following these reductions.
Approved applicants have until 8 February 2023 to accept the offer. Once an offer is taken up, vessel owners must surrender their fishing licences within eight weeks and decommission their vessels, in an environmentally compliant manner, by 31 October 2023.
The Seafood Taskforce agreed to a decommissioning target of approximately 60 whitefish and beam trawl vessels with a total capacity of 8,000 gross tonnes to ensure the future profitability of the Irish whitefish fleet, with approximately 170 vessels remaining in the fleet. Over 9,000 tonnes of quota fish valued at €35 million annually will be available for remaining whitefish vessels to catch, ensuring the remaining fleet's economic viability into the future.
Interim CEO of BIM, Caroline Bocquel, said, “ Minister McConalogue has to date secured funding for a series of schemes, arising from Seafood Taskforce recommendations, to a value of €265 million. These have been designed to support the industry to adjust and restructure in the post-Brexit marketplace and sustain the coastal communities in which they are based. Decommissioning will strengthen the viability of the remaining fleet providing a significant boost to the economics of those boats by making €34 million of fish quotas available annually to the remaining 170 whitefish vessels. This scheme will ultimately help to put the sector on sounder financial footing, delivering a sustainable future for Ireland’s fishers, and restoring the profitability of a fishing sector that supports the economies of coastal communities.”
